Essential Reading from the World's Top Literary Cities

Where does one live if one is interested in the life of the mind? Do you hole up in a rural area or head to the city, where you can hope to meet like-minded aesthetes at gin-filled parties? If you prefer the latter, then we have a list of cities for your wandering, writerly craft to thrive. We’ve included a few writers famous for living in the cities below, as well as recommended reading for each place. As always, let us know what places or which authors we’ve missed in the comments section below.

Tokyo, Japan

Haruki Murakami, Banana Yoshimoto, and other Japanese Writers You Should Know have lived in this city of 13 million strivers. It’s home to the Imperial Palace, a slew of parks, electronics shops, and boutiques, as well as neighborhoods that one is meant to wander through and enjoy without necessarily having a final destination. It’s the economic center of Japan, but also an artistic one, which is why so many writers find themselves here.